


The Interpreter and the Expose

by bugzadc



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-18 07:25:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9374282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bugzadc/pseuds/bugzadc
Summary: Kara may not have been able to fulfill her parents' dying wish, but there was no way she wasn't going to try and fulfill their other wishes for her. Doing that put her right in the crosshairs of Cat Grant.





	1. Chapter 1

She had failed. She had been on earth for less than a day and, already, she’d had the opportunity to fulfill her parents’ dying wish taken away from her.

Kal-el didn’t need her. He didn’t even want her. He flew around with their family crest - stronger together - on his chest, but he was the one who kept them apart.

Kara had spent years floating in the Phantom Zone, focused on only one goal: protect Kal-el. But it wasn’t until she landed on earth and met her adult cousin that she truly felt adrift. 

Even though Kara was eventually able to settle in with the Danvers and feel a sense of family and belonging, she didn’t really have a sense of purpose until years later when she was able to choose electives for the first time in school.

Kara may not have been able to fulfill her parents’ dying request, but she could make sure she fulfilled the one they had before that.

Her parents had wanted her to be a diplomat and on Krypton: applicants to the diplomatic corps had to pass a test proving their ability to speak in a wide variety of languages. 

When Kara saw the list of available elective courses, she knew that language classes could be a first step for Kara toward fulfilling her parents’ wishes.

“I want to take Spanish and Mandarin,” Kara told Eliza.

“Two languages, Kara? That sounds like a lot. Are you sure?”

 Eliza had never before seen a look quite like that in Kara’s eyes before as the girl nodded her head.

“Yes,” Kara said. “I’m sure.”

 

**_Twenty Years Later:_ **

Cat Grant was waiting in the meeting room with a blonde woman - Kiera? - who'd introduced herself as the ambassador’s secretary or assistant, well she was his something anyway.

The meeting of the UN'S Security Council had run longer than expected and Ambassador Kenchi Aragaki was running late. He was only three minutes late, but still - Cat Grant was not used to waiting.

She wasn't used to what happened when the Ambassador strode into the conference room either. He was halfway to her, apologizing for his lateness in stilted English, when he noticed the girl in the corner and abruptly turned away from Cat.

He embraced her and started chattering away in Japanese.

The two excitedly talked for a few minutes before Cat cleared her throat. The blonde girl blushed while the ambassador began to apologize again, this time in Japanese.

"The ambassador extends his apologies," Kara said one Aragaki had finished speaking. "I spent several months working with his family a number of years ago when he was stationed in France and he hasn't seen me since.The ambassador says he meant no offence to you or your great company. He is ready to answer your questions."

Cat pursed her lips. A translator could make this interview more difficult for her.

"I was led to believe the Ambassador speaks English," Cat said.

Kara relayed Cat’s statement to the Ambassador and relayed his response to Cat.

“The Ambassador does speak some English, but he prefers to speak in his native tongue to avoid any difficulties in making himself understood.”

Cat’s interview continued that way for the next hour: she spoke in English, the interpreter translated Cat’s words, the Ambassador responded and the interpreter translated his words.

The three talked for about an hour before the Ambassador had to conclude the interview so he could take a call in the hallway. Cat was packing up her notebook, recorder and pen when the translator asked her a question.

"Would you like me to send you a transcript, Ms. Grant? I'll be writing one up for the Ambassador’s records," Kara said.  "I can have an English copy to you by this evening if you’d like one."

Well perhaps the interpreter did have some use after all.  
  
"You can send the copy to my assistant Margaret,” Cat replied, already on her way out the door.  
  
There was no one employed at CatCo named Margaret. Cat's assistant was named Mary.  
  
So the arrival of a word-perfect transcript in Cat's inbox, delivered to her personal email address no less, came as something of a surprise.  
  
That was one upset too many for Cat: first the Ambassador was late, then he ignored her for the translator and now - somehow - the girl had managed to find her personal email address and had the audacity to use it.  
  
Now Cat was intrigued - this merited a Google Search: "Kara Danvers" "Kenchi Aragaki " "France.”  
  
She set the parameters to encompass the time frame referenced by the ambassador earlier that day and hit search.  
  
Dozens of articles appeared - nearly all of them were about the plucky translator who somehow saved the ambassador's daughter during a kidnapping incident.  
  
"She says she got lucky," a source close to the family was quoted as saying in one article.

Several of the articles mentioned a key piece of evidence police collected from the scene: locks that looked as if they had been torn right out of door frames.

None of the articles had a decent picture of the translator. At best, they captured a third of her face.  
  
Buried toward the bottom of a single article was a sentence referencing Kara's work as a translator in Monaco, a clear attempt on the reporter's part to flesh out the story, woefully lacking in clear detail as it was, in the name of search engine optimization.  
  
That might have been the end of Cat's interest in the young translator were it not for Lois Lane's involvement in that particular incident in Monaco.  
  
It was her story on the attempted coup that landed her the Pulitzer for Breaking News Reporting that year despite Cat's best efforts.  
  
Kara Danvers’ sunny smile was just at the edge of a photo of Prince Albert II’s relieved family taken just moments after the attempted coup was stopped in its tracks.  
  
Two other articles about the incident, neither of which ran the photo, referenced a mysterious blur knocking out the enemy combatants.  
  
Most government officials assumed the blur was some sort of story cooked up by the rebels. They had no idea how the rebels’ guns ended up in a twisted heap near the compound’s gate.

Cat noted down the woman’s professional translation services website from the header on the transcript she had emailed. The translator claimed proficiency with 68 languages and listed experience as a translator around the globe on her  ‘About Me’ page.

Cat cross-referenced every bit of experience listed on the other woman’s website with news stories.

There was a woman who claimed an angel saved her in Turkey. A man in Argentina swore up and down that he had seen a woman take on a massive drug ring, armed only with her fists, and come out without a scratch on her. Newspapers chronicled a strange flying creature in Egypt. A Korean blog chronicled paranormal events the author attributed to a single woman. The list went on and on and only one thread seemed to tie all the strange occurrences together: Kara Danvers’ resume. 

Cat had a pad full of notes by the time she went home to Carter later that night. She was determined to solve the Kara Danvers mystery when she barreled into the office the next morning,

“Margaret, get Kara Danvers in here this morning,” Cat said as she took her disappointingly lukewarm latte from her assistant. “And have her bring me a hot latte since you can’t seem to manage it.”

“Um, it’s Mary, but yes, right away, Ms. Grant,” Cat’s assistant said, before turning to her computer to try and figure out who on earth Kara Danvers was meant to be.

Mary walked into Cat’s office 10 minutes later. She looked nervous.

“Ms. Grant, Ms. Danvers says she can’t possibly come today because,” Mary trailed off as Cat stiffened and narrowed her eyes.

 “Because?”

 “Well, she asked that I remind you that she is currently contracted to Ambassador Aragaki,” Mary said, wincing at the look on Cat’s face. “But, but she did say that she’ll try and squeeze you into her schedule at her earliest convenience. So that’s good, right?”

 Cat glared at her assistant and released a pent up breath.

 “Very well,” she eventually said. “Get her in here as soon as her schedule allows it. And get me a latte - hot this time.”

 

XXXXXXX

 

Nine days - Kara Danvers made Cat Grant wait for nine days. Cat made the most of the time; she delved into the translator’s background in her spare moments. 

She started with the obvious: LinkedIn. The woman’s portfolio gave Cat a high school - Midvale High - and graduation date to work with. The Midvale Express online archives only extended back to 2012, so Cat had Mary drive up the coast to Midvale and get physical copies of the town’s weekly paper.

Her assistant showed some surprising initiative and photographed the entirety of the Midvale High Yearbook from Kara’s year of graduation and provided Cat with a collated PDF of the entire book - this might even merit the occasional usage of her assistant’s actual name.

A yearbook photo captioned “The Danvers sisters” gave Cat another avenue of research.

Cat had everything she could possibly get compiled in a notebook by the time Kara Danvers called to schedule an appointment. But she didn’t have a plan.

Kara was obviously smart. Cat wouldn’t just be able to ask her for an explanation and expect a straightforward answer; Kara would just laugh off Cat’s evidence. A blur? An angel? CatCo’s CEO knew she needed hard proof instead of second-hand sources. She needed Kara Danvers staying in one city, under her watch.

It wasn’t until Kara walked through her office doors at 10:15 on a Tuesday morning that Cat knew what she needed to do.

“I want to offer you a job.”

Kara laughed.

“You know, usually you wait for people to apply for jobs before offering them,” Kara said as she took a seat on one of Cat’s couches. “What kind of work did you have in mind?”

Well, fuck - What kind of job did Cat have in mind? Job responsibilities include: telling me every single thing about yourself and letting me write one of the biggest stories of my life? Probably not going to cut it.

Cat walked over to her bar, poured herself a drink and offered one to Kara as a way to stall for time while her mind searched for a job that would not only fit Kara’s obvious talents and be a worthwhile and enticing opportunity for her, but would also give Cat unparalleled access to the girl.

After Kara shot down the proffered drink - it was only 10:17 now, after all - Cat went for plan b: also known as, Cat continuing to fly by the seat of her exceptionally well-tailored pants.

“Yes, well, as you may know,” Cat said before stopping to take a sip of her scotch. “CatCo has outlets worldwide and the only thing tying each of the branches together is me.”

Cat took another sip and set her drink down on her desk as a fully formed job description came to mind.

“I’m looking for someone who can act as a manager between all of my various enterprises. You’d work out of National City, but you’d be involved in CatCo London, Paris, Hong Kong, Moscow and Buenos Aires. I want to make sure all of my satellite offices are each up to the standards of CatCo.”

The job offer was not what Kara had been expecting. She’d come prepared to apologize for her use of Cat’s personal email address. Kara had gotten it from Lois, her cousin’s girlfriend, and not thought much of it until she began receiving desperate emails from Cat’s assistant.

The job Cat was offering, it wasn’t what her parents had wanted from her. Her current work wasn’t exactly working for the Kryptonian Diplomatic Corps either, but it was the closest Kara had been able to get with her forged birth certificate and Social Security number. Besides, she’d begun to come to terms with Krypton’s end in recent years and realize that desperately chasing her parents’ wishes for her wasn’t particularly healthy.

And National City had Alex. It had Eliza just a short flight away. Cat’s job offer was extremely tempting for Kara, but she wasn’t sure she was even qualified - this sounded like an intense role and Kara had never even gone to college.

“Ms. Grant, I really appreciate the offer, but I’m not sure I’m really what you’re looking for,” Kara said. “Yes, I speak all the relevant languages and have experience in all of those cities, but I have absolutely no business or journalism experience. I just, as great as it sounds, I don’t feel I’m qualified and you deserve to have the right person for the job.”

Cat leveled Kara with a measuring look for a moment before leaving her perch on the desk to take a seat on the couch opposite Kara. She took a moment to consider the right words to sway Kara to her way of thinking.

“Are you aware that the President of Greece credits you with saving a trade deal with Turkey,” Cat asked, referring to an incident she’d learned of during her research.

“Wha -”

“Shh,” Cat held up a hand to Kara. “I’m not done. I’ve done my research. I know who you are and precisely what you are capable of. You’re extraordinary and I can think of no one better to take on this new role.”

Kara fiddled with her glasses while she considered Cat’s words. She had been missing Alex an awful lot…

“Alright, I’ll take it,” Kara said with a smile.

Her new boss stood up and began smoothing out her skirt, smiling like the, well, like the cat who got the canary. Kara gulped - what had she gotten herself into?

“Excellent,” Cat said. “You start tomorrow.”


	2. Chapter 2

Kara was meant to having a goodbye dinner with Alex that night. Normally, Kara was a bit mopey whenever she had to leave National City for work abroad. Alex, who had prepared for the dinner with a Kryptonian appropriate amount of ice cream and cupcakes, was surprised when Kara burst into her apartment that night and hugged her, lifting her up and spinning her around. 

“Alex, Alex, Alex,” Kara shouted, before she set Alex down and let go of her. “I got a job in National City!”

“Wait, another temporary contract job or a full time job?”

“A full time job,” Kara answered, practically jumping in place with excitement. “I have unnecessary medical benefits and everything.”

Alex latched back onto Kara and hugged her tight. Her sister spent most of her time in places where Alex couldn’t keep an eye on her. She knew Kara was invulnerable, but Alex worried and missed her. A relationship based largely around phone calls really didn’t cut it for the Danvers sisters.

“I’m so happy for you, Kara,” Alex said. “Where’s the new job?”

“CatCo,” Kara said before making a beeline for the takeout containers on the table.

Alex’s heart sank. Of course her baby sister would go from one dangerous situation into another. Alex walked into the kitchen and hopped up onto a stool next to Kara, already regretting what she knew she’d have to say next.

“Working for the Queen of all Media, Kara? Do you really think that’s the best idea?”

Kara swallowed a mouthful of noodles as she flashed back to that look Cat had given her just after Kara had agreed to take the job. There was no doubt in her mind that her new boss was both interesting and interested in her, but Kara had no idea just how interested Cat was or in what way.

“I don’t really know, but I’m going to find out,” Kara said with a shrug. “And if I’m going to do that, we need to finish up here quickly so I can get ready for my first day of work.”

 

XXXXXXX

 

Kara checked in at security the next morning and was quickly greeted by Cat’s secretary. After Kara confirmed that her name was in fact Mary and not Margaret, the two women set off for HR so Kara could pick up some paperwork and get a building ID.

Mary escorted Kara from HR to her office and waited as Kara walked into her office for the first time. She was briefly stunned as she walked into the room. Kara knew she’d played an important role in the past, but she’d never been trusted with something like this before. She trailed her fingers around the edges of her desk as she explored her office with a smile of contentment on her face.

“Ms. Grant has asked that you come meet with her at 12 to check in on your responsibilities,” Mary said. “Everything you need should be here, but you can call me if there’s anything I can help you with.” 

Kara, already seated behind her desk and rooting through some documents HR had given her, nodded distractedly. 

She spent the next few hours reading through piles of analytics on CatCo. Kara had prepared as much as possible the night before, but there was some information she was only now, as an official employee of CatCo, able to access. Kara took notes on the strengths and weaknesses of the various satellite offices and felt prepared for her second trip to Cat’s office. 

Notes in hand, Kara walked over to Cat’s office just before noon and paused to talk with Mary when she noticed Cat was busy on the phone in her office.

Cat watched as the two women talked; they looked like old friends - how had Kara managed to befriend Cat’s assistant like that already? She pondered the issue as she wrapped up her call and waved Kara into her office.

“Ms. Grant -”

“You can call me Cat.”

“Cat then, I can do that,” Kara said. “I’ve been reviewing your records and I think CatCo might be best served if I start off by focusing in on the Moscow branch. Subscriptions there have been a bit wobbly and the government restrictions there require some serious finagling.”

Kara trailed off as she noticed the intense look Cat was giving her. 

“I’m so sorry, Cat,” Kara said. “You probably had something specific in mind for me to start on. Is there any particular area of operations you want me to focus on first?”

“Yes, dinner,” Cat said. “And then later the Moscow satellite office because you’re right about the subscription numbers.”

Kara was confused. She knew she only had passing familiarity with the scope of CatCo’s operations, but Kara couldn't begin to fathom what Cat meant by dinner.

“Dinner?” Kara asked. “Is that CatCo code for something?” 

Dinner wasn’t CatCo code - just Cat code for plan to get to know Kara better. She’d had HR add a mandatory first-day dinner for new hires into the Employee Handbook. 

The dinners were with direct supervisors, so Cat wouldn’t have to deal with too many of them if she decided to keep the policy on the books to quell any potential suspicion on Kara’s part. At the very least the head of HR had seemed pleased with the new policy - something about building camaraderie.

“Page 48 of your Employee Handbook, Kara. We’ll be going out to dinner so I can get to know you and we can get a clearer understanding of how best to work together,” Cat said. “I’ll see you at 8. You can start dealing with the walking personification of white male privilege I’m unfortunately stuck with in Moscow until then. Chop chop.”

Kara wasn’t exactly sure how she was supposed to start in on that seeing as it was around 11 p.m. in Moscow by that point, but she could at least head back to her office and start working on a game plan for dealing with the Russian office.

She spent the rest of the work day on that before heading to the hotel she had been staying in for the last two weeks. Her reservation, courtesy of the Japanese consulate, had ended that morning while Kara was at work. Kara picked up her luggage from a storage room off the lobby and brought it to Alex’s apartment. Her sister had offered a spare room until Kara was able to find a place of her own. 

Alex was also, fortunately, much better at picking out clothing for things like this. There was just something about Cat that made Kara want to pull out all the stops.

Cat had a company car pick Kara up later that night. She was stunned when she saw Kara walk through the restaurant in a black dress that ended high on her thighs. Cat added beautiful to her mental list of Kara’s attributes as she stood up to greet her. 

“I hear you’re a fan of potstickers,” Cat said. “You can get some of the best in all of National City right here.”

Kara’s brow crinkled in confusion. “That must have been some extensive research you did on me, Cat,” she said. 

Cat coughed, embarrassed at being caught out, and immediately looked over the wine menu as a way to cover up her interest in the younger woman. 

“Yes, well, that was actually largely an overenthusiastic headhunter I employ,” Cat said. “Delegation is key to running CatCo. That played a large role in my decision to hire you.”

It had been a long time since Cat had stood toe-to-toe with someone of Kara’s level of intelligence and even longer since she had done any real investigative reporting. That, combined with the way Kara looked in that dress, had Cat unsteady.  She refocused and committed to being perfectly charming while acting as if she just wanted to learn about Kara as an employee.

The two woman ordered their meals and Cat put a tally in the paranormal column as she watched Kara order an exceptionally large amount of food for a woman of her size.

“So what ultimately swayed you to take the job,” Cat asked after the waiter left their table. 

Kara’s face lit up as she answered. “My sister,” Kara said. “She’s been the most important person in the world to me ever since I was adopted. I didn’t get to see enough of her while working as an interpreter.”

“I didn’t know you were adopted,” Cat said before taking a sip of wine.

“Oh?” Kara quirked an eyebrow. “That didn’t come up in your extensive research on me,” Kara asked, more teasing this time than she had been just minutes ago. 

“It did not,” Cat said. She reached across the table and gently laid her hand on top of Kara’s, noting the flush that spread across Kara’s cheeks. “Do you feel comfortable talking about your family?”

“Some things yes, other things not,” Kara said with a sigh. “My parents...they died a long time go.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Cat said softly as she removed her hand from Kara’s. She missed the warmth of the other woman’s hand instantly. “Did they spur that wanderlust in you?”

Kara was spared having to answer immediately as the waiter brought appetizers over to the table. 

“I suppose they did in a way,” Kara said as she dug into her bowl of food. “They were certainly interested in other cultures and languages. I started studying other languages as a way to honor their memory.”

“It’s a good thing you have such a talent for it then,” Cat said. 

Kara flushed appreciatively. It wasn’t often that her grasp of so many languages was appreciated. Interpreters were always necessary, but secondary to everyone else in the room. It was only in her conversations outside of work over the years that people appreciated Kara for what Kara was saying and not for what she was saying on behalf of others.

“Thank you,” Kara said. “I think it’s beautiful to be able to go pretty much anywhere in the world and just sit down and have a conversation with someone you meet on the street. I know I can do that here, it’s just, it’s different, you know?”

“I do. It’s part of what brought me to reporting - the ability to go and talk to people and just learn more about them and their lives. That and my mother’s absolute disdain for the profession,” Cat said, trying to move the conversation back toward Kara’s origins. “What was your mother like?”

“My biological mother was a judge and my adoptive mom is a scientist,” Kara said, her eyes dark as she talked about the two women. “What about you? I hear you have a son.”

Cat lit up and the two women talked about Carter all the way through the entrees. He was Cat’s favorite topic of conversation and Kara seemed genuinely interested in getting to know more about him. Cat’s plan to use the dinner conversation to subtly interrogate Kara completely slipped by the wayside as the two women talked. 

It wasn’t until the waiter stopped by the table and asked if either of the women were interested in dessert - Kara gave an enthusiastic yes - that Cat realized what had happened. This woman just kept disarming Cat. She was too perfect by far, Cat thought as she watched Kara gleefully dig into a slice of chocolate cake. 

Cat groaned to herself as she realized she had to squeeze at least some professional talk into the dinner. She had insisted on the dinner under the guise of establishing an optimal work relationship after all.

The two women talked shop as Kara ate her cake and Cat worked her way through a final glass of wine. Cat was impressed with Kara’s initial plans. As much as Cat hated to admit it, she had been somewhat wary of hiring Kara, untested as she was, to fill such an important role at her company just so that Cat could get close to her.

But Kara was proving herself to be well worth it. The two women debated the importance of metrics and the merits of enhancing the office’s social media team. Kara rattled off numbers and key players as if she’d spent years working directly in the Moscow office and not just hours in an office 6,000 miles away. 

“It’s almost 10 p.m.,” Kara said after glancing at her phone. “As much as I’m enjoying myself, the Moscow office is just opening and I want to get Sergei on the line as soon as possible.”

“And I should be getting home to Carter,” Cat said. 

The two slid on their coats and headed outside where Cat’s driver had already pulled up to the curb.

“Don’t spend too long on the phone with Sergei,” Cat said as she got into the car. “I find he’s immensely capable of inducing migraines.”

“Oh I wouldn’t worry about that Cat,” Kara said. “I never get sick. I mean, I hardly ever get sick so it just feels like I never get sick sometimes. Anyway, right, yes. Have a nice night and thank you so much for dinner.”

“I’d suggest you take a car back to the office to avoid the cold air so you don’t catch a cold, but you apparently don’t need to avoid bad weather to stay healthy,” Cat said with a grin from her seat in the back of her car. “Your constitution might just be my new favorite thing about you.”  

“You’ll have some other favorites soon enough,” Kara promised just as Cat’s closed the car door. 

And there was that cat who ate the canary grin again as Cat’s driver pulled away from the curb. Kara still had no idea what she’d gotten herself into, but she knew she liked it. 


	3. Chapter 3

Cat did a double take when she saw a rumpled Kara, wearing the same dress from the night before with an oversized hoodie on top, picking up some pages from an office printer early the next morning. She somehow looked just as perky and fresh faced as she had yesterday despite the signs that she had never left CatCo.

“Kara Danvers, have you been here all night?”

Kara looked up from the papers she had been shuffling through and grinned when she saw Cat. 

“I have,” she said. “But I think we’ve made a good start on untangling some of the problems the Moscow office has been facing.”

Kara was cut off when Cat grabbed Kara by the elbow and began steering her toward Cat’s office. She shoved Kara toward the couch and shouted out to Mary to bring in an extra coffee. Cat shushed Kara every time she tried to speak until Mary handed a steaming cup of coffee to Kara with a shy grin. 

Cat pushed up her glasses and rubbed at the bridge of her nose while she waited for Kara to finish at least part of her drink - not that she looked as if she needed any caffeine, another tally in Cat’s potentially paranormal column.

“Did I somehow lead you to believe last night that I expect you to work 24/7? Because I can assure you, legal would have my head if I did that,” Cat said. “Besides which, I want you operating at your best, which requires at least some sleep.”

“Oh, I’m fine, Cat,” Kara said. “With the time difference I just wanted to make some headway with Russia when I could.”

“And I appreciate that, but you need to go home and at least take a nap and change clothes before coming back,” Cat said. 

“Well, I suppose I could use the time to look for an apartment,” Kara said. “My sister isn’t going to want me to stay with her forever.”

Finally - an opportunity for Cat to find out some more about Kara. Cat’s business manager had just mentioned a couple of open units in an apartment building Cat owned. Cat considered telling Kara there was a unit open in her building - she did think Mr. Cooper was going to move out to a nursing home any day now - but that seemed a step too far.

Either option would give Cat even more of an opportunity to study Kara. She did have an extensive questionnaire for potential renters to fill out. There was no reason not to make one even more extensive than normal for her potential tenant to be.

“I own several properties throughout the city, actually,” Cat said. “I’d have to check with my business manager, but I might have an opening or two.”

“I think that might be a bit of a conflict of interest to have my boss be my landlord, Cat, but really, thanks so much for offering,” Kara said. “I’m sure I’ll be able to find something quickly enough.”

“Well, get to it then,” Cat said, slightly annoyed at Kara’s insistence in throwing her plans off course once again.

But Cat did slowly build evidence against Kara over the coming year. She noticed the uptick in strange occurrences in National City and the fall in crime statistics. She watched as Kara made excuses to be elsewhere during emergencies. She watched as Kara performed miracles in the office, accomplishing in days what would have taken anyone else weeks.

She noted that Kara almost never wore the same thing more than twice. Kara tried to brush that one off once when Cat asked her about it; she said she was always accidentally shrinking things in the laundry or  accidentally knocking food and drinks onto her outfits. And yet Cat had never seen a single instance of Kara’s supposed clumsiness despite the hours and hours she and Kara spent together each week.

Cat did see Kara’s immense kindness in all of those hours. She did see Kara bond with Carter. She saw the way Kara hummed classic rock at her desk while working. She saw the genuine smile on Kara’s face every time Cat greeted her in the morning. 

A nearly completed article sat in one of Cat’s desk drawers for months while the two women grew closer. And then one day in May, Cat saw a new side of Kara that gave her all the proof she needed to finish and publish her article. 

She watched as Kara stopped a school bus from going over the side of a bridge on the eastern end of National City. Cat didn’t know what it was about the instance that forced Kara to show herself - the girl was usually able to speed unseen through dangerous situations as best as Cat could tell - but Cat could recognize Kara anywhere by that point. 

Sure, Kara had pulled a hood deep over her face, but Cat knew that dress. Cat had given the custom made Chanel dress to Kara as part of an ongoing effort to improve the other woman’s wardrobe - constantly buying new outfits to replace destroyed old ones must have been expensive for Kara after all. 

Kara didn’t know the Chanel dress from Cat was one of a kind. She didn’t know that an article detailing secrets she’d spent more than two decades keeping was locked away in the bottom right drawer of her boss’ desk.

She did know Cat was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. She did know Cat was immensely kind, despite the caustic exterior she had at work. She did know Cat was an amazing mom. She did know that just seeing Cat each day could make her smile.

The day Kara saved the bus full of children was a turning point for both women. It was the day Cat finished her article, but decided to bench it because of a feeling she couldn’t quite put a name too - not yet. It was the day Alex barged into Kara’s apartment, furious that the other woman had used her powers so publically. And it was the day Alex, once Kara had calmed her down, helped Kara craft a suit to hide her identity when she took to the skies to help people.

Clark Kent showed up in National City not long after that. Cat watched as Kara stiffened at the sight of the Daily Planet reporter in the CatCo newsroom. Kara pulled Kent into her office and the two talked in there for a while before he stormed angrily out of her office and the newsroom. 

Carter had already invited Kara over for dinner that night, so Cat decided to wait a few hours to ask Kara about her reaction to the Daily Planet’s star reporter. Kara helped Carter with his homework and played video games with him just as she always did, but she seemed off to Cat all night. 

Cat broached the subject as the two women washed the dishes later that night after Carter had gone to bed.

“You want to tell me what exactly it is about Clark Kent that set you off?”

Kara sighed and dried a serving bowl and a pot before she answered Cat. 

“Clark is my biological cousin,” Kara said. “He was the only family I had left after my parents died, but Clark, he didn’t want me. He said he couldn’t take care of me and he didn’t even try. Family was...it was really important to my parents. They drilled the idea of it into me before they died and he just, Clark just didn’t seem to care at all.”

“He seemed like he cared today,” Cat said, wincing as the glass Kara was drying shattered in her hands at Cat’s response. 

No blood - more evidence Cat wasn’t sure she wanted anymore. The two cleaned up the bits of glass shards from the kitchen floor and finished with all the dishes before Kara spoke again, asking if they could sit. They sat quietly for a few minutes while Kara figured out what she could say without revealing who her cousin really was, who she really was.

“Clark, he only seems to care when something I do inconveniences him in some way,” Kara finally said. “But he doesn’t get to make decisions for me.”

Kara’s face was blotchy in a way Cat had never seen it before. Her chest was heaving and in that moment Cat made a decision to do something that hadn’t happened yet in their relationship: she hugged Kara.

Cat had meant for it to be a quick, comforting hug. A hug a boss might be allowed to give her employee. No more than a friendly hug. But Kara sank into her arms and Cat tightened her grip around the other woman. The hug was not friendly. It was, Cat didn’t have any words for it, not immediately. Only one came to mind after the two spent several long minutes wrapped up in each other: right. So right. And Cat knew what she had to say.

“Kara,” Cat said softly, running a hand up and down the small of Kara’s back. “I know one of the things your cousin’s supposed to stand for is truth, but that doesn’t mean he’s always right.”

Cat felt Kara stiffen in her arms at the words. Kara pulled away and laughed nervously.

“Stands for truth, you mean because he’s a journalist, right?”

“No, no, I don’t. Truth, justice and the American way - your cousin’s catchphrase. I know who you are, Kara. I recognized you that day with the bus and I’ve recognized you every day since. Telling me Clark Kent is your cousin just told me who Superman was too,” Cat said, pausing at the frantic look in Kara’s eyes. “I’m not going to tell anyone.”

Kara hadn’t relaxed yet. If anything, she looked worse. Her face was pale and her entire body was taut with tension. Cat reached out toward her, but pulled back when Kara flinched. 

“I mean it, you know,” Cat said. “I already thought you were the super girl of Catco. Now I just know you’re literally Supergirl.”

Cat bit her lip, digging her teeth in to hold herself back from doing what she realized she wanted to do in that moment. It was too soon and it was wrong. Kara was her friend, her employee and, until recently, the unwitting subject of an expose Cat regretted ever starting on. 

But Kara surged forward and Cat’s head spun as their lips met. Kara’s world had ended years before, but now it felt like entire universes were building inside her. The kiss and all the feeling Kara was putting into it had been growing for months since that first day when Cat called her extraordinary during her job interview.

Cat squashed the part of her that was screaming ‘she doesn’t know’ down and put everything she had into kissing Kara over and over and over again. Her head was reeling and everything was moving too fast, but there was no way Cat was hitting the stop button now.

Eventually, the two pulled away from each other and Kara raised an eyebrow and grinned. “So, is there a section in the employee handbook on this?”

Cat leaned back in and kissed her again. “There will be by tomorrow. I kind of thought you might be more interested in doing something else right now,” Cat said, eyebrow arched, before taking Kara by the hand and leading her toward the bedroom.

Their relationship didn’t change all that much after that. The two women still worked together by day. Kara still came over for dinner with Cat and Carter. But now there was sex - a lot of it - feelings and guilt - so much guilt.

Cat’s chest felt tight every time Kara smiled at her and she remembered the article draft in her desk. She felt dirty every time she watched Kara sleeping beside her and remembered that she’d hired Kara under false pretenses. 

But her heart felt lighter every time Kara came back from business trips to CatCo’s other offices. She felt alive every time she heard Kara’s laugh. Cat felt full every time she came home and saw Kara teaching Carter the basics of Russian or Spanish while they cooked dinner together.

As much as Cat hated to quote her mother’s favorite author, it  _ was _ the best of times and it  _ was _ the worst of times. Even if she shredded the article draft and lit her Kara notes on fire, there would still be that wrongness to their relationship.

And Kara just didn’t know - couldn’t know - about the dark problem at the root of their relationship. So when she nervously told Cat one night over dinner in Cat’s office that she loved her, Cat didn’t have the slightest clue what to say.


	4. Chapter 4

For just one moment, Cat contemplated keeping her secret forever. It would be hard, she knew. She would always feel that disgust with herself, but she’d have Kara. Kara would never have all of her though, not if she wasn’t given the chance to know all of Cat. Not if there was this huge secret looming over them.

Kara’s face slowly fell at Cat’s non-response. Cat shoved the thought of more lies out of her mind and braced herself. She had to tell the truth. It might not end up better this way, not for either of them, but at least it would be right.

Cat stepped away toward her desk and unlocked the bottom right drawer. She paused a moment and steeled herself before she pulled out a file: her article on Kara. _A Hero in Every Language_  was written in bold letters across the top. 

“You have to know that when I started this, I had no idea what you would come to mean to me,” Cat said, heart already beating frantically in her chest. Her hands, wrapped tightly around the folder, were trembling. “I’ve been lying to you since 10:15 on the morning I hired you.”

Cat’s voice hitched and Kara sprang up from the couch to go to her. 

“No, wait, you need to know this first,” Cat said. She needed to get this all out at once. If she let herself touch Kara, if she let Kara hold her, she was sure she’d give up on the truth forever. “Your job, it’s a made up job. I researched you after our meeting with the Ambassador and something just seemed...off. I felt like I was onto something and, well you know me, I needed to know more.”

The look on Kara's face was dark, so dark, for just an instant before she composed her face into an inscrutable mask. Her head was packed with white noise that just got louder and louder as Cat continued her explanation. Kara felt like she was being torn apart on the inside. 

This was like Clark all over again, Kara thought. Cat didn’t really care about her, she just pretended to care because she wanted something. The noise just kept getting louder in Kara’s head. She wanted to scream, but she forced the rage and pain down. She needed answers.

“What did you do Cat,” she asked, voice clipped in a way Cat couldn’t get a read on.

“I’ve been researching you,” Cat said as she handed over her article draft. She felt like she was making the biggest mistake of her life with each word she said. Kara just seemed to be shutting down further and Cat didn’t know how to bring her back. “I swear I have no plans to publish this,” she promised, desperate for Kara to believe her. “I finished it months ago, but there are things I want more than the biggest story of my career, Kara. I want you.”

Kara looked down at the draft in her hands: A Hero in Every Language, Cat had called her. She didn’t feel very heroic right now, just broken. Empty.

"I trusted you, Cat,” Kara said before tearing the article into pieces. “I've shown you everything - everything - I am because I thought you were genuinely interested in me as a person, as a partner," Kara spat out. "I was wrong. I thought you wanted this the same way I did and I was wrong. You never wanted me. You never wanted a relationship - you just wanted a story. That’s just, I’m - ."   
  
Kara gave up trying to talk - there was no point in talking any further. She knew who Cat was and she knew Cat never did anything she didn’t want to do. There was no point in saying anything else. There was no reason to stay, not anymore. 

Kara turned and began rushing out of the building, ignoring the click of Cat's heels as she chased after her. She got an elevator down to the lobby, but Cat dove in just as the doors were closing. Kara gripped the railing elevator railing and gritted her teeth. 

There was no way she was going to let Cat see her cry. Cat didn't deserve her tears. She was Kara Zor-El. She had trained all her life to carry on the legacy her parents had wanted for her and she would not cry.   
  
Cat was crying though. And god, did she have to look so beautiful when she cried?   
  
"I know what I did was wrong, but I love you, Kara. I'm so ridiculously in love with you and that's why I could never tell you," Cat said. "Because I knew you'd react like this."   
  
The metal of the elevator railing twisted beneath Kara's hands as her anger rushed out.    
  
"Don’t put this on me," she shouted, her face contorted with rage. "You lied to me because you knew I'd be angry? Well I am angry, Cat."   
  
The elevator doors opened on the lobby and Cat wanted to grab onto Kara and stop her, she wanted to hit every single floor button on the elevator to give herself more time, she just wanted Kara. But she was too slow - Kara had walked out through the building doors before Cat had the chance to do anything more.   
  
She was gone and she could literally go anywhere in the world to get away from Cat.

Kara made a quick stop at Alex’s apartment before leaving National City. The sisters had always been close, but living in the same city for so long had helped them become even closer. Kara was dreading telling Alex what had happened. She’d kept her relationship with Cat hidden from Alex all these months. 

Kara had never quite been able to shake the memory of Alex’s reaction to her new boss when Kara had told her about the job at CatCo. And now? Telling Alex that she had been right in her concern? Telling her that Kara was planning to leave National City on the next flight she could get? It wasn’t going to be pretty. 

She didn’t lead with her relationship with Cat. Kara wasn’t sure it was even something she could explain at all. She felt like her chest was being ripped open and she couldn’t think of anything to tell Alex over the maddening siren that had been screaming in her head since Cat had shown her that damned article.

Kara pulled herself together as much as possible and just told Alex that Cat knew. Cat knew she was Supergirl and there was no way Kara could stay in National City anymore.

“I really don’t think she’s going to tell anyone who I am though,” Kara said, doing her best to reassure Alex.

“Do you really have to leave if she’s not going to tell anyone? I’m still here,” Alex said. “And I still want you around.”

“I -,” Kara faltered. There was just too much of Cat in this city for her to stay. The other woman was the one who brought her here. A building with her name on it towered over the rest of the city. She had dined with Kara in restaurants throughout the city. 

Kara’s face was drawn. Her jaw was quivering and she was so tense. Alex knew there had to be more to the story than what Kara was telling her. This wasn’t her sister - her sister was brash and didn’t run away from challenges.  

“What aren’t you telling me?”

The dam broke. Kara burst into tears and Alex rushed to hold her. She cradled her sister to her chest and vowed to kick Cat Grant’s ass into space if she didn’t fix whatever it was she had done to Kara. 

Alex teased the whole story out of Kara eventually: the dinners, the museum trips with Cat’s son, the late nights together, the time spent strategizing over coffee. 

“You love her, don’t you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kara choked out. “It doesn’t matter because she was just using me more for an article. And, I just, she says she’s not going to publish it, but I can’t stay here, Alex. I can’t.”

XXXXXXX

Months passed with Cat doing her best not to think about Kara. Cat downed drinks and dove into her work with a ferocity and single mindedness that hadn’t been there since she founded her company. She needed the distraction.

But Kara haunted the corners of every single one of CatCo’s offices. Cat tried to drown herself in the stories her company told day in and out, but the story of her relationship with Kara kept bubbling to the surface. 

Kara Danvers may have been the one that set Cat’s life shooting off into an unexpected, but better path, but it was Alex Danvers who refused to let Cat steer back into her old life. 

She barged into Cat’s office in the middle of a workday in a fit of frustration after yet another phone conversation with Kara. The sister she spoke to one the phone was a deflated, shadow of the woman Alex knew. Alex just wanted her sister home and whole. As much as she hated to admit it, she was pretty sure Cat Grant needed to play a role in making that happen. 

“You are planning on fixing this, right? Because if you aren’t, I’m going to have to kill you,” Alex said, slamming her fists onto Cat’s desk. 

The two women had never met, but Cat recognized Alex from the pictures around Kara’s apartment. 

“Not in here,” Cat hissed, before getting up and leading Alex out to her balcony. “Did she tell you what I did?”

“Yes,” Alex said. 

“Then you know there’s no way I can fix this,” Cat said. “I can’t go back and change what I did. And I wouldn’t even if I could because it was wanting to figure your sister out that brought her into my life to begin with.”

“You love her,” Alex cut in. She wanted her sister home; there was no way she would let any excuses from Cat slide. “And I don’t give a shit about you, but she’s not going to be right again until you fix this - so make it happen.”

Cat sank into one of the chairs she had set out on the balcony. She buried her face in her palms and growled in frustration. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet. There was no trace of Cat Grant, CEO - this was the Cat that Kara told Alex about. 

“I don’t know how,” she finally whispered.

Alex sat down next to Cat. “I don’t know either, but you’re not going to figure it out here. Just go to her, apologize and be the woman she fell in love with. Please.”

“Alright,” Cat said. “I can do that.”

Cat felt alive for the first time in months as she boarded a flight for Norway. Alex had handed her a sheet with the address of the vacation lodge Kara was staying in. Cat smiled when she read the details - of course Kara would be the type of person with an open invitation to stay at the ski lodge of Norway’s prime minister. 

She took coach - it was the first flight she could get and Cat was anxious to have Kara back in her life as soon as possible. Cat mulled over what she could say to Kara throughout the flight: she was handed a pack of peanuts, she thought of Kara; she ordered a pinot that turned out to be incredibly disappointing, she thought of Kara; she looked at the clouds outside the windows, she thought of Kara. 

_ Just go to her, apologize and be the woman she fell in love with  _ \- Alex had told her. Easier said than done, Cat thought when she landed in Norway and noted all the snow outside. 

It was when she was in an airport shop rifling through the racks of giant parkas that she noticed a wall of Norway memorabilia and finally got an idea for how she could possibly get Kara to forgive her. She grabbed a coat and a notebook with Oslo on its cover before heading to the register; she had work to do.

Cat was a bundle of nerves when she knocked on Kara’s door several hours later.  “Kara Danvers, I flew coach to get here and you will let me explain myself,” Cat said when Kara opened the door. She brushed right past Kara into the house.

Kara closed the front door and leaned against it, folding her arms against her body. “Coach, huh? I guess that merits a few minutes,” she said. “How’d you find me? More snooping?”

Cat winced. “That was well deserved, but no more snooping. Not ever if you let me back into your life,” Cat said. “Your sister actually told me where you were - said she’d kill me if I didn’t fix this.”

Kara sighed and set off for the living room, pausing when she noticed Cat hadn’t immediately started to follow her. 

“Well you better come in so we can talk then,” Kara said. “The last thing I want to be doing is breaking Alex out of prison.”

Kara gestured toward a couch and watched as Cat unzipped a massive red parka. She looked adorable all bundled up and - okay - clearly Kara needed a few minutes away from Cat before she let this conversation happen. Kara was feeling too much - first shock and confusion at the sight of Cat here in Norway of all places, and then entirely too much happiness at seeing the other woman again. 

“I’ll bring you some tea,” Kara said, heading off to the kitchen to collect herself. 

Kara closed her eyes and listened to the sound of Cat’s heartbeat while she waited for the tea to brew. Her heartbeat was fast. She was nervous. Kara swallowed and reminded herself that Cat had lied to her, that she’d entered into a relationship with her under false pretenses. 

She reminded herself to just keep breathing as she handed a mug of tea over to Cat. Kara settled into a chair opposite Cat and folded her arms across her chest. “You wanted to talk, talk,” Kara said. 

Cat took a sip of her tea and winced at the temperature, then winced again at the look on Kara’s face. It was her interpreter face - a blankness carefully honed over years of work. There was only one way to throw her off it: start with something that was equal parts surprising and embarrassing.

“I once asked out Idris Elba and he turned me down,” Cat said. 

“Excuse me?”

Cat pulled out the notebook she had bought in the airport and flipped it open to the first page before handing it to Kara. This was the only play she had, and she she hoped with everything in her that it would work - for her sake, for Carter’s, for Kara’s - for her entire family’s sake. It was time to come clean.

“I wrote an expose on you, so I thought it was only fair I write one about myself as well,” she explained, gesturing to the notebook. Kara didn’t seem to know what to do with the list - she just looked weary; no, Cat decided - Kara looked weary and wary. She didn’t look like the warm woman Cat had come to love and Cat hated it. “If you just, read the headline. I meant the one I came up with for your article and I mean this one too. I’ve felt it every single day since I ruined us from the start.”

The headline on Cat’s newest expose: _Cat Grant: A Foolish Idiot Who Is So Sorry For What She Did_.

“I toyed around with ‘A Foolish Idiot Who Is So Sorry For What She Did,’ but I don’t regret it,” Cat said. “Not even a little bit. My life has been so much better since the moment you walked into my office and I could never regret anything that led to that.”

“So why did you do it?”

“You impressed me, Kara - from the moment your transcript landed in my inbox. And you intrigued me,” Cat said. “It's been a long time since someone did that and I honestly didn't know how to handle it. So I turned toward what I'm used to - I dug for the truth.”

Kara didn’t know what to say - she had no idea how she thought or felt about all of this. No one had hurt her like Cat had in so long - not since Clark. But no one had loved Kara quite like Cat had either. Kara stared down at the notebook. 

“I want you to come home, Kara. I have two seats booked on a flight back to National City tomorrow. I would stay longer if I could, but I couldn’t find anyone to watch Carter long term on such short notice,” Cat said. She swallowed back her nerves as best as she could, stood up and pulled on her parka again. “I love you. And I really hope you show up in the airport tomorrow.”

Cat left. Kara was alone, just as she had been for months, but it felt different now - she was more aware of the solitude. Kara did her best to shake off the feeling and then took some time to read over the pages of Cat’s life detailed in the notebook. 

Even with all that, the answer wasn’t really any clearer to her. She felt stuck. Alex had told Cat to come here - Kara had to believe Alex had seen something, had known something, if she’d done that. So she called her and told her everything that had happened since Cat had shown up at her front door.

The deciding factor came not from CatCo, but from Us Weekly. 

“I know I’ve never seen you two together and I only spoke to her once, but I do think she loves you,” Alex said. “I didn’t want to tell you this when I saw it, but about a month ago I was getting groceries and I noticed Cat on the cover of Us Weekly. She was wearing sweatpants and Uggs, Kara. Sweatpants and uggs.”

When Kara showed up at the airport in Oslo the next day, Cat felt her heart unclench for the first time in months. Her entire body felt lighter and she smiled as she watched Kara weave her way around the other travelers in the airport. Kara reached Cat moments later. She was within reach; she knew and she was here. 

“So why didn’t this ‘Stars: They’re just like us’ picture of you in Uggs make it into your list of embarrassments?”

Cat laughed. “You’ve seen the comfy section of my closet before. I didn’t think it merited a mention,” Cat said, grabbing hold of Kara’s hand and pulling her even closer. There was no way she was letting go of her again. It was a good thing they had seats next to each other. A flight attendant called out for passengers to board and the two women headed toward the line, hand in hand. 

Cat felt so happy she could float, but she supposed that was best left to Kara. 


End file.
